Title 49—Transportation--Volume 1
PART 1022—CIVIL MONETARY PENALTY INFLATION ADJUSTMENT
§ 1022.1   Scope and purpose.
The purpose of this part is to establish a method to adjust for inflation the civil monetary penalties provided by law within the jurisdiction of the Board, in conformity with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, Public Law 101-410, 104 Stat. 890 (codified as amended at 28 U.S.C. 2461 note), as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, Public Law 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321, and further amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, Public Law 114-74, 129 Stat. 599. These penalties shall be subject to review and adjustment annually using the method specified in this part.
§ 1022.2   Definitions.
As used in this part:
(a) Board means the Surface Transportation Board.
(b) Civil monetary penalty means any penalty, fine, or other sanction that:
(1)(i) Is for a specific monetary amount as provided by federal law; or
(ii) Has a maximum amount provided by federal law;
(2) Is assessed or enforced by the Board pursuant to federal law; and
(3) Is assessed or enforced pursuant to an administrative proceeding or a civil action in the federal courts.
(c) Consumer Price Index means the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers published by the Department of Labor.
(d) Cost-of-Living Adjustment means the percentage (if any) by which the Consumer Price Index for the month of October preceding the adjustment exceeds the Consumer Price Index for the month of October one year before the month of October preceding date of the adjustment.
(e) Initial Cost-of-Living Adjustment means, for each civil monetary penalty, the percentage (if any) by which the Consumer Price Index for the month of October 2015 exceeds the Consumer Price Index of the month of October of the calendar year during which the amount of such civil monetary penalty was established or adjusted under a provision of law.
§ 1022.3   Civil monetary penalty inflation adjustment.
The Board shall, immediately, and at least every year thereafter—
(a) By regulation adjust each civil monetary penalty provided by law within the jurisdiction of the Board by the inflation adjustment described in § 1022.4; and
(b) Publish each such adjustment in the Federal Register.
§ 1022.4   Cost-of living adjustments of civil monetary penalties.
(a) The inflation adjustment under § 1022.3 will initially be determined by increasing each maximum civil monetary penalty by the initial cost-of-living adjustment. Not later than January 15 of every year thereafter, the inflation adjustment will subsequently be determined by increasing the maximum civil monetary penalty for each civil monetary penalty by the cost-of-living adjustment. Any increase determined under this section shall be rounded to the nearest dollar.
(b) The cost-of-living adjustment required by the statute results in the following adjustments to the civil monetary penalties within the jurisdiction of the Board:
Table 1 to Paragraph ( b )